


Ten Years

by DarknessAroundUs



Series: Cooper-Jones [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Babies, Bookstores, Chicago (City), F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, San Francisco, ok mostly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-06-14 18:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15395082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: One Elopement, several squabbles, one chronic illness, four jobs (at least), and a vast amount of kisses. The story starts three years after high school ends. Each chapter covers the same day on a different year.





	1. Year Zero

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts three years after high school ends. Betty is a junior in university. The book is canon complaint up till the end of season two, because I can't predict what the future of the show will bring. Each chapter covers the same day on a different year.

**January 12 th, 2021**

 

Betty sorted through the books in the first box. After placing each of the books on their correct spot on the shelves of Mable’s Fables she turned to face the rest of the shipment, eight large boxes full of books.

 

The Christmas sales had been better by far this year than the last two years Betty had worked in the bookstore. As a result the January re-stocking of the store was more laborious than she remembered. She might have to be there all afternoon.

 

At least the store was closed on Monday’s. She could play whatever music she wanted, and no customers could interrupt her to request that she help them track down “that book with the blue cover and the silhouette of a person on it.” or “that book with the word girl in the title” (they were never looking for _Gone Girl_ when they said that).

 

Not that she didn’t love her job, she did. When she first moved to Chicago to attend _Northwestern_ , she had tried two different waitressing jobs before finding the much more preferable position here.

 

Mable’s Fables was close to campus and her boss adored her. On quiet days, she even managed to get a fair amount of studying done. The pay was not great but a scholarship covered her education and her accommodations, so all she needed to do was to make enough to cover food. Though she knew she couldn’t live on campus forever. Each year the living situation was progressively worse. This year she had four roommates, none of them knew what a boundary was and one of them didn’t believe in showers or toothbrushes.

 

Each year Jughead and she would make a plan to move out together, into their own place, roomate free, and each year something would come up. Last year her mother had thrown a huge fit about it, and cut her off from talking to Polly and the twins for three months. In the end Betty backed down. The year before FP had needed to go to rehab and all of Jughead’s extra money (if you could even call it that), went towards paying for that. This year though, they were going to pull it off. They had made certain that it would happen. Why live with people you didn’t like (even ignoring their poor hygiene), when you could live with the person you loved?

 

Betty was deep in her own thoughts and half way through the contents of the third box when someone knocked on the door. She ignored it and continued to shelve _All the Light We Cannot See_. Then she heard her name being called through the glass door, she turned to see who was calling it and there he was, leather jacket clad and looking bitterly cold. She smiled and walked to the door.

 

He should be at work now, serving drinks at The Pauper’s Pub _._ She unlocked the door for him and let him in. His cold lips met hers, and she felt suddenly content, at ease in a way she hadn’t all day.

 

“Why are you not at work?” She asked.

 

“It was dead there. Gus let me go early. I figured you would need the extra help anyways.”

 

“Of course.” Betty smiled. She had thought the bookstore gig would be a better fit for the son of an alcoholic, and last year her boss had hired Jughead part time, so Jughead knew the layout of the store and all of its organizational quirks. However he had loathed the job. It was too quiet for him, he complained about the lack of people watching, the slowness of it. He said that at the bar he got a lot of material for his book, just by observing others.

 

That said, he was not opposed to helping Betty out from time to time, and he knew how to help. He changed the station on the radio right away as was his habit and they fell into a comfortable silence. The remaining five boxes were unpacked with ease.

 

“I love you” Betty says as she locks up, and Jughead kisses her on the cheek. She notices their smiling reflections in the now dark glass of the bookstore. Here they are, no different than they were a week ago, in outward appearance. He still has bags under his eyes, and hair that swoops down over his ears, and she still has her hair in a ponytail. Yet somehow everything feels different, richer for the secret they share.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on [Tumblr](https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/).


	2. After The First

**January 12th, 2022**

Jughead wiped the bar clean of crumbs, disappearing the rings left by the glasses. It was the near closing time, but the bar was still packed. Jughead knew last call would be any minute, but it wasn’t his to make, and it would still be an hour after that before he could actually go home, between the drinkers who wanted to linger and the final clean up. Betty was asleep already he was sure, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to be back home with her. Their apartment was tiny and cockroaches were an issue, but it was theirs, and theirs alone. It turns out that all his fantasies of life without roommates had nothing on the reality of the situation. Not that life was all coffee and spooning but it was much better than it ever had been before.

 

“Can I get another IPA?” Alan, the regular at the end of the bar asked. Jughead nodded and Alan returned to his notes.

 

“What are you working on?” Jughead asked. Alan was an English professor, actually he had been one of Betty’s professors when she was a freshman, a good one at that, although Jughead had never told them of their tangential connection.

 

“I am teaching a new class next semester. I am just finishing up my notes for the second lecture. What are you working on?” Alan asked nodding at the notebook besides Jughead on the bar.

 

“Would you believe me if I said homework?”

 

Alan laughed “That would require you to be a student.”

 

“Even when I was a student, I wasn’t the kind who did homework.” Jughead said with a wink. It wasn’t entirely true. He had handed in rushed essays in high school, but the key word there was rushed. He was fine with optional work, like writing for the Blue & Gold, but essays assigned by a teacher were never his thing.

 

He didn’t even apply to college, and much to her credit, Betty didn’t really press him about it.  She understood school wasn’t his thing.

 

“I am working on my book.” he told Alan. He didn’t need to go to details, Alan already knew about the book. Although he wasn’t even really working on it right now, he was working towards writing better dialogue, and to that end he had been eavesdropping to people’s conversations all evening, and writing down snippets.

 

“How is it going?”

 

“Revisions, revisions, revisions.”

 

“The new editor working out?” Alan asked, taking a sip of his IPA.

 

Jughead nods. She was actually motivating him to improve the book, to add a deeper level to it. Besides it seemed like this time the publisher would actually stay afloat financially speaking, and not go under before releasing the book.

 

“Do you have a release date yet?”

 

“Yes, but it is over a year away.”

 

“So you will still be my bartender for another year then?” Alan asked finishing his drink.

 

“Probably a lot longer than that.” Jughead said, writing books did not pay that well. If it was a bestseller maybe he could quit this job, but even then he wasn’t sure. The job forced him out of the house, talk to people. If he didn’t have this gig he probably wouldn’t leave their apartment for anything but food, and that would not be good for his mental health, or Betty’s. At the bar there were regulars now, about a half dozen including Alan, that he looked forward to chatting with, on a weekly basis.

 

Suddenly Alan was shoved against the bar from behind, his glasses falling on to the bar in the process. Jughead walked towards him. Behind Alan were a couple. The boy’s lips pink from the girls, and her upper lip rubbed red by his beard. Their arms were still wrapped around each other. The girl was blushing deeply “I am so sorry.” she said. Before Alan could even respond she grabbed the boy’s hand and left.

 

“That was awkward” Jughead said, clearing the air by stating the obvious. Alan laughed.

 

“You said that without even knowing she was my student.”

 

“Geeze. Do you want another drink? It would be on the house.”

 

He could tell Alan thought about it before he shakes his head, no.

 

“She has actually been writing about him all semester. He’s her high school boyfriend and they moved together to the big city for an education.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“Actually, it hasn’t been working out.” Jughead nodded, he wasn’t surprised by that. He could see them even now, through the front windows of the bar, shouting at each other. He had noticed them earlier fighting too, before the make out/make up situation that had ended up impacting Alan.

 

“I am not surprised.” Alan said “I mean, I moved with my high school girlfriend for school and we lasted one year before going down in flames, and I do mean flames. She set about half my clothes on fire.”

 

“Shit! What did you do to deserve that? Cheat on her?”

“No, I got better grades than her.”

 

Jughead laughed. “I am still with my high school sweetheart, although I would never call her that. We have been together a lot longer outside of high school than in, by now. Maybe the secret to our success is that I no longer get graded.”

 

“You have a girl?” Alan looked skeptical. Jughead laughed. He didn’t know why it surprised people so. “Why don’t you ever talk about her? I’ve been coming here for years, and I’ve never heard of her, yet I know all about your book.”

 

This is true. But the book feels like a nice neutral subject. Telling customers, even good ones like Alan, about Betty always felt like showing them his heart, there was something too personal about it. Besides he hated when others went on and on about their significant others that  he had never met. It always seemed fake somehow.

 

“It just never came up, I guess. Do you have a significant other?” Jughead asked, deliberately keeping it gender neutral.

 

“No, and if I did, I would be talking about her all the time!” Alan said slapping the bar.

 

“I guess what I have with her is hard to reduce into words.” Jughead said, this answer closer to the truth.

 

Alan smiled at that line “So what is she like?”

 

“She’s a student. On the dean’s list and everything actually. She’s going to graduate this year with an English degree.”

 

“An English degree? Wait, have I taught her?” Alan said looking rather surprised. Jughead blushes in response.

 

“Yes. But I am sure you don’t remember her, it was over three years ago and there were twenty people in the class.”

 

“Oh, so she has told you all about me, but you told me nothing about her? That isn’t fair. What is her name? Maybe I do remember her.”

 

The manager finally declares _last call_ and Jughead shrugs “Betty Cooper.”

 

Alan takes a minute. He is clearly thinking about it, then he gets a smile on her face “She was in my intro to creative writing class. Blond hair, green eyes, really sweet but obsessed with murder?”

 

Jughead laughs “That is my girl.”

 

“She is a great writer. She should be writing a book.”

 

“I keep telling her that.”

 

Alan slaps money down on the bar and tells him to keep the change. Then as the bar slowly starts to empty out, Jughead goes and wipes down the tables, bussing all of the forgotten glasses. It ends up being a little over an hour before he can leave. The walk home is a brisk five minutes.

 

He should probably take a shower. He reeks of beer and liquor. But instead he just strips down to his boxers and climbs into bed, pulling up the covers and snuggling into Betty, he props himself up and gives her one good kiss on the cheek and murmurs “goodnight my love” and she, though still mostly asleep, mumbles _love, love, love_.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please comment! I've never really written anything like this before so it feels very strange to me.


	3. After the Second

**January 12 th, 2023**

 

Archie’s whole face felt like it was burning with anger, even on this cold day, he felt heat radiating off him. Most of that heat was probably from the run, but it didn’t feel that way right now. He was stretching post run on the front steps of Jughead and Betty’s apartment building, but he wasn’t ready to go in yet. He felt entirely betrayed by them.

 

He had arrived in Chicago from New York yesterday night. He had felt badly that his visit was unannounced, but he and Veronica were going through a rough patch, and she threw him out. He was too embarrassed to give Betty and Jughead a heads up but he knew they would let him stay.

 

Betty had even made him his favorite dinner, and when he went down to the pub to see Jughead, drinks were all on the house. This morning he woke after both of them had left, Betty to her new job at the Chicago Review Press and Jughead to write in a coffee shop (according to the note he left, the one around the corner, just in case Archie wanted to join him).

Archie ate some of Betty’s homemade granola and laid on the sofa watching Netflix and thinking about his life, mostly about this fight with Veronica. He should have never taken that girl’s number, he was never going to use it, but it was flattering. After so long in the same relationship it had felt good to be desired by someone new, thrilling even. He had never seen Veronica so mad, even that time he had accidentally put her favorite cashmere sweater in the dryer, had nothing on this.

 

After watching three episodes of Friends he got up to get more granola (that stuff was addictive) and while passing the bookshelf to get to the kitchen, he accidentally knocked a card off of it. Archie bent down to put it back on the shelf and he couldn’t help noticing the word wife written inside.

 

He opened it up and read _“Betty, thank you for two glorious years. I am so grateful you are my wife. I promise to build you a treehouse of your very own someday. Love, your heart holder._ There was a date at the top, January 8th, 2023.

That is when Archie got properly furious - his two best friends had gotten married – two years ago, apparently, and in all the time since they had never told him. He couldn’t figure out why they would keep something like this a secret from him. Would they have ever told him if he hadn’t seen the card?

 

Archie had adopted the Betty Cooper method of anger management and gone for a run. A really long run. Halfway through the run he realized that if he didn’t know, Veronica also didn’t know. He was really tempted to give her a call and tell her all about it, then at least they could have been pissed together (and maybe she would have been less pissed at him, as an added bonus). Archie restrained himself.

 

His body temperature was really cooling down now. He was still furious about the situation, but that January cold had gotten to him, and he had to head inside. He used the keys they had left him to open the door to the building then after he had climbed the stairs to the second floor, the door to the apartment.

 

He was surprised to see that it was Betty who was home. He assumed she would be at work till evening. She turned to see him and smiled “I came home to make you lunch. Soup can really be comforting you know.”

 

“If you say so Mrs. Jones.” Archie replied. Betty’s head whipped around and she dropped the glass of water she was holding. It shattered on the tile floor. Glass and water spreading everywhere.

 

“It is actually Mrs. Cooper-Jones, if you must know.” Betty says this without meeting his eye. She goes to the closet and picks up a broom and starts to sweep up the glass.

 

“So some people do know about your marriage then.” Archie said, he can feel his anger rising again. If she was going by that name how could they not.

 

“Mostly just the government, really. We couldn’t be legally married without them. How did you find out?”

 

Archie picks up the card from its perch on the bookshelf and shows it to her. 

 

“I’m sorry. We really wanted to tell you. We were planning to tell you.”

 

“Why didn’t you? You had two whole years, apparently.” Archie could not keep the bitterness out of his voice.

 

Betty swept up the rest of glass and dumped the contents of the dustpan into the garbage, before sitting down on the sofa and replying. “We got married so young. Most of our friends are just talking about moving in together now. You and Ronnie have been together as long as we have, and you just moved in with her last month. It seemed so strange to be getting married, when no one else we knew was even talking about engagement. We didn’t tell anyone beforehand because we were worried they would talk us out of it and into waiting longer and a big wedding. We were not interested in these things.”

 

“But after? Why didn’t you tell us after?”

 

“You know how earlier I said only really the government knows?” Archie nods. “The only other person who knows is my mother. We told her about six months after the fact. We were living together, and we hadn’t told her that, and when she came by for a surprise visit, I wasn’t going to tell her, but she went on and on about how we were living in sin. Finally, I snapped and I showed her this.” Betty tugs on the chain around her neck and pulls it out, on the end is a simple gold band. “She was so mad at me for betraying her, for not telling her, that she hasn’t visited since. Occasionally we get a tersely worded letter, but that’s it. That didn’t encourage us to tell anyone either.”

 

“So that is why you stopped visiting Riverdale.” Archie said and Betty nods. “But you know that Ronnie and I we would have supported you.”

 

“We figured, but at first it also felt like this delicious secret, something for the two of us to share. A little exciting. Once the excitement became contentment, it was awkward. What were we supposed to do? Say, oh yeah, we just forgot to tell you, we got married last year, city hall style.”

 

Archie laughed. He could feel his anger diminishing. “So why did you get married?” He asks. He can’t help himself. Current dumb fight aside he assumes he will spend the rest of his life with Ronnie, and he hadn’t even thought of asking her to marry him.

 

“We didn’t see the point in waiting any longer. We knew what we wanted. I mean at the time there was other issues too. The fact that Alice made such a big deal about cohabitation was definitely a factor, though clearly our elopement was an even worse sin in her mind. But ultimately we did it for ourselves.” Betty’s eyes met Archie’s “Every day I am glad we did it.”

 

The apartment door flew open and Jughead ran in, face flushed “Betts, I got your SOS text! What is happening?”

 

“Archie found our anniversary card.” Betty said.

 

“Oh.” Jughead said. “Sorry.”

 

“Just out of curiosity how were you planning to tell people after all this time?” Archie asked.

 

“We thought we would eventually throw a small garden wedding one summer for all our friends, and pretend to get married, but I guess now that you know, V’s going to know, then Kevin is going to know, and so there is no point in doing anything like that now.” Betty said.

 

“That should save us some money.” Jughead said with a grin.

 

“Cheapskate” Betty said as she stood up to kiss Jughead, then she turned to Archie “Can you forgive us?”

 

Archie had already gotten over his anger, now this all seemed kind of funny. “Sure.” Then after a significant pause “Only if you let me tell Ronnie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I hope you liked this chapter. It was the most fun to write so far, and actually it was the first chapter idea I came up with. Please, please, comment!


	4. After the Third

**January 12 th, 2024 **

Jughead looked out into the audience at Mable’s Fables, and saw that all the seats were taken, the standing room was also filling up. About half of the people were regulars from the pub, some of them were readers, some were not, but they were loyal and supportive, he would give them that, showing up here without the promise of alcohol.  The other half were regular customers of Mable’s Fables, many were here for “Betty’s Guy” – he knew that, even though she hadn’t worked here regularly for over a year now. He could see a few strangers scattered about as well, over fifty people total.

 

Lucas, Betty’s old boss and the owner of Mable’s Fables walked up to the podium. Lucas checked the mike and then spoke into it. “Hi, Everyone! Our reader tonight is J. Cooper-Jones, better known to some of you as Jughead.” There was polite laughter, probably from the few people who didn’t know he actually went by that name. “His first book “ _When We Call Your Name_ ” was just released by Felony & Mayhem Publishing. _When We Call Your Name_ is a surprising mystery that plays with convention. It is a book about parents that are missing, one by choice, and the other not, and it is their children’s burden to try and find them. It is one of the finest and most surprising mysteries I’ve read in years. With no further fuss – J. Cooper-Jones.”

 

There was applause and Jughead could hear a wolf whistle, clearly Betty’s. He wish he could see her in the crowd, but he knew she was up at the front of the store, ready to man the cash after the reading, for old times sake.

 

“Thank you so much, Lucas! I spent a lot of time writing _When We Called Your Name_ in café’s all over Chicago, as well as in Pauper’s Pub, where I work, and in Mables Fables too, in the chair near the front. But the book is very much grounded in the town I grew up in, a town where not everyone knows each other but where everyone knows something about each other. For example, there was a woman in a wheel chair I passed every so often in the grocery store, and we never spoke, but I knew from someone else that she had lost her legs and her husband in a car accident. I imagine that for a long time she knew the one thing that everyone seemed to know about me, that my father was a drunk and the leader of a gang.”

 

Jughead paused and took a sip of water. It was strange, so many of his regulars had known him for half a decade now or so, but they didn’t know this about him, they didn’t know so many things about him, and now he was telling them and dozens of strangers, things he would have a hard time telling one person. But he had talked to his publicist about this, and more importantly he had talked to Betty, and they had both agreed that if he really wanted to make a career out of this, out of writing, he had to be honest about the facts mixed in with the fiction.

 

“Later on the women in the wheelchair might have known other things about me. Like the fact that I joined that gang, the fact that I became their new leader, or the fact that my father vanished, with very few traces the day before my high school graduation.  _When We Called Your Name_ is not my life story, but it is rooted in my life story. And unlike most people I met my wife when I was five, although clearly she wasn’t my wife then.” A wave of laughter through the crowd forced Jughead to pause again.

 

“We grew up together as friends, we went through high school as a couple, so this isn’t just rooted in my life story, but hers as well. Which makes it even scarier, to say these words, even if it is just in a bookstore I’ve been to a hundred times before, a bookstore she has worked in for years. So before I get to the excerpt I am going to read tonight I just want to say, thank you Betty. ”

 

There is a round of applause and he heard one of his regular’s yell “So she does really exist!”.

 

Then Jughead reads the first chapter of the book, which was originally the second chapter of the book, but his editor was right, this is where the story starts after all.

 

It is funny blending fact and fiction, like he does in _When We Called Your Name_. Certain parts occur exactly as they happen, just in the wrong order, his first kiss happening a year after the fact, and other things are pure fiction, the end where his father is found is a blend of both. He and Betty had found his father, had seen him through the windows of a restaurant, waiting tables at his new job two states away, but FP didn’t see them, and they left after that. Jughead had never looked for him again, and FP seems to have never looked for Jughead. In the book there is a confrontation, a reunion, and an explanation for almost everything that happened. As Jughead reads the chapter out loud he thinks in passing about all of this, and he notices how everyone in the room seems to focus intensely on what he is saying. At the end there is a round of applause that feels like it goes on for five minutes.

 

A few minutes later Jughead is sitting at a table signing books. The first books he signs are for strangers, but Alan is fifth in line and beaming.

           

“I’ve already read it.” Alan said placing it on the table in front of him. “Sorry my copy is a little beat up. I loved it.”

           

“You are only saying that in the hopes that it will earn you free beer.” Jughead opened up the book “Are those margin notes I see?”

 

“I couldn’t help myself.”

 

Jughead wrote a quick note and signs at the bottom.

 

They talk for a few minutes more, then Jughead has to focus on the rest of the line. It becomes clear that he sold a fair number of books tonight. Many of the people in line have more than one copy for him to sign. He was worried for ages about turn out for this night, and sales, but it seems like he did something right.

 

After he has signed everyone’s books, and Betty and Lucas closed the store, he lets out a big exhale. Lucas thanks him for a great reading and a great sales night and he thanks Lucas for everything.

 

Then he and Betty walk home together in the snow. His whole body was humming with exhaustion. He spent weeks thinking of all the ways this could go, good and bad, but the reality was better.

 

“The publisher is going to be happy.” Betty said “I sold over a hundred copies tonight. We almost ran out of books. There are only three left in the store. For a small publisher, that is a big deal.”

 

“How did I sound up there?”

 

“Good, confident, professional but personal.” Betty said. Jughead laughs.

 

“I didn’t feel confident.” Betty pulled him into a kiss. When the kiss broke he looked at her, his wife standing in the snow, a few flakes in her hair, resting on her coat. She looked like the promise of spring, flushed from the kiss, or the success of the night, he wasn’t sure which.

 

“I love you.” He said, and she smiled softly, as if he had said something new, not something he had been saying for over a decade now. “You know I still see the child in you sometimes.” He said.

 

She nods, “Me too. When you talked tonight about Riverdale, about knowing me forever, I thought about how lucky we are. Most couples have to tell each other all about their screwed-up families, but we already knew all that about each others.”

 

Jughead laughs loudly, they are in front of a bar now, and part of him wants to extend the evening by going there for a celebratory drink, but Betty never much of a drinker had stopped entirely a few months ago, because it was bothering her stomach. At first Jughead hoped it was about something else - a baby, and he felt guilty for hoping her birth control wasn’t working, but it became clear as the months passed that that wasn’t it. She said the pain decreased after she eliminated all alcohol, but he still knew it was a daily thing.

 

She must have sensed his thoughts “We can go in if you like, it’s not that late! And we have plenty to celebrate.”

 

“No, we can do that even better at home.” He said, kissing her this time, sharing his warmth with her.

 

“So how did it feel to be up there?” Betty asked.

 

“Good. Though I couldn’t help myself. I kept looking for him in the crowd.” Jughead knew he didn’t have to say FP’s name, Betty already knew.

 

“We could find him you know. We did it once, we can do it again. I’m sure we still have our detective skills, even after all this time.”

 

“I want him to find me when he is ready. I am not hard to find. Just a simple Google search away, particularly after this book.”

 

Betty nods “Just tell me if you ever change your mind.”

 

“I will.” He said. “Besides didn’t we just solve the mystery of the missing wedding ring just last week?”

 

“Finding my ring on top of a head of lettuce in the fridge, when it had been missing for a week does not count.” Betty squeezes his hand, her eyes so full of love, and he knows that he wants to be home as soon as they can.

 

“Can you walk faster?” He asks her, and he loves the gleam that sentence sparks in her eye.

 

“I can run.” She replies and just like that, they are off, running through the dark, still holding hands, snow falling all around them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I actually completely re-wrote this chapter, and I was so much happier with the second version! As you can see I am a little addicted to writing dialogue – so sorry about that. I am so grateful for everyone’s comments! Thank you so much! Please comment!


	5. After the Fourth

**January 12 th, 2025**

Betty returns from her run to a sleeping husband. When she left the shower he was awake, although just barely. His eyes squinted in the surprisingly bright room. “Did it snow last night?” he asked, voice still groggy with sleep.

 

“Yes. Just a few inches.” She crawled into bed besides him, and he turned her into the little spoon.

 

“How are you feeling?” He asked, his hand cupped casually around her breast.

 

“Ok.” She said with a little exhale. She could tell by the way he moved his hand, that he wanted her to say more, but she wasn’t ready. Anything she would say now would come out angry, it would change the tone of the day. “Can we not talk about it right now?”. She listened to him breath, could feel the heat of it on her neck, one puff after the other. “Please. This is our first day off together, in what feels like forever, and I want to enjoy it as much as we can.”

 

“Sure.” He said finally, pulling her even closer, kissing her collar bone, her shoulder.

 

After breakfast, they took the train to the Art Institute. They walked through a temporary exhibit first, but the vomit green was too much for Betty. There was nothing engaging there. It was just paint on canvases.

 

“Let’s go visit our painting.” Jughead declared and Betty took his hand and they made their way through many rooms till they were standing in front of Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. It turns out you could see a painting a hundred times, and even if you didn’t see something new in it, it could make you feel a different way. She could feel the posture of the man on his own, slumped almost against the counter.

 

After that they left. The perk of being members is that you never felt obligated to stay. It was time for lunch anyways.

 

“When is the appointment again?” Jughead asked.

 

“1:30.”

 

“Can we talk now?”

 

Betty still wasn’t ready. But it wasn’t as if they could put it off forever. “My stomach feels ok today.” she said as they walked through the park, heading automatically to the place they always had lunch.

 

“That is just today.”

 

“I know. But maybe once I am on medication it will always be like that. If I stay off dairy and gluten, and take the right things everything might be ok. The doctor said people could stay of flares for years, even forever.”

 

Jughead grabbed her hand. “So you are up for taking the medication? Whatever works?”

 

Betty knew what he was really asking. Was she ok with losing her hair? That seemed to be the side effect of about half the medicine to treat Crohn’s. But there were worse side effects, and even un-medicated Crohn’s made pregnancy complicated, but she pushed that thought of her head. If she focused on that too much, she would just revert to a crying mess, and she had already been one for most of yesterday.

 

The strange thing about Crohn’s, which the colonoscopy she had a week ago had confirmed, is that it could change her life completely, render her immobile because of pain, it could kill her, or it could just be dormant, something that didn’t really interfere with her life at all, if she found the right diet and treatment. But it was never going to go away, it was with her, with them, for life now.

 

When she first experienced the symptoms over a year ago, she assumed it was some sort of stomach bug, though they were well beyond that.

 

“Yes. Whatever works” She said. She needed relief from the pain. She needed it to stop effecting every aspect of her life. Work had been forgiving so far, but she knows that the goodwill she had built up with her boss was wearing a little thin.

 

She wondered what Alice would say about all this. They hadn’t spoken in almost four years, but she knew her mom would have lots of opinions about the situation, most likely ones Betty herself would vehemently disagree with.

 

“Good.” Jughead said, “I just wanted to be on the same page before we saw Dr. Wu.”

 

Betty takes his hands. “We are.”

 

“Your mother probably wouldn’t be.” Jughead said softly. So he was thinking along the same lines as her, after all. It made sense. This would usually be the time you called on extended family for support, but they didn’t have that. Jughead’s parents had both chosen a life without him in it, a fact that Betty would never understand. Jellybean was in their life, but nominally. The siblings had lost a lot of time, and things were stiff between them.

 

As for Betty’s parents, she hadn’t been on speaking terms when her father died in prison, and her mom seemed completely uninterested in repairing anything between them. There was Polly and the twins, who Betty desperately missed, but after the cult deprogramming they had started a new life in Australia, and now they were only figures on the screen that they talked to every month or so. Betty only shared the easy things with Polly.

 

“We have Archie and Veronica at least.” Betty said, wishing again that they lived closer.

 

“We have each other, and most people don’t have that.” Jughead pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “at least not the way we do.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry for the shorter chapter (and a heavy one at that). I promise the next one will be long and light, it will include Archie and Veronica.
> 
>  
> 
> It has long bothered me that in movies and books, one half of a couple often get life threatening diseases (cancer being the most common one) and the story revolves around that, and the person who has cancer either recovers or dies. But either way it is the center that binds the romance. In my life at least, I know more people who have a partner who is chronically ill, often for decades. It effects every part of the couples’ lives, and yet in fiction I have rarely encountered that narrative. I went back and forth on what kind of chronic illness to introduce and I went with Crohn’s because it is the disease I know best, the one my long-term partner has. Although Betty’s Crohn’s will be treated differently. This won’t become the focus of the story though – it will just be one of the strands.


	6. After the Fifth

**January 12 th, 2026**

Betty turned towards the Archie and Veronica and lifted her glass in a toast. Archie was already smiling, and Veronica looked stunning in a white gown that discreetly showed off her new baby bump. Everyone in the crowded room quieted. Betty looked out over the tables, and outside of Jughead, Fred, and Kevin, it was a crowd of extremely well-dressed strangers. She knew some of them in passing from parties Veronica had thrown, but with Jughead and Betty living in Chicago and Archie and Veronica living in New York, their friend groups has diverged completely. It was strange speaking about two people she knew so well, to a group of people who were close friends of the couple but didn’t really know Betty at all.

 

“Hi, I am Betty Copper-Jones and I am in a pretty unique position as Maid of Honor to have known the groom for even longer than I have the bride. I’ve known Archie since kindergarten, and I was there for the moment Veronica met Archie. I won’t repeat what she said right before meeting Archie, because this is a formal occasion.” Betty had to pause to account for the laughter that greeted that line.

 

“But I will say that it was lust at first sight.” There was even more laughter. “Archie and Veronica didn’t take long to find love between them. They have turned that love between them into a life, a wonderful one, and now they are creating a new life one with this child and that fills me with such joy and happiness. I wish them the best of luck on the journey that is marriage.” There was a great deal of glasses clinking and cheers of here, here.

 

Betty returned to her seat beside Veronica, who reached over and squeezed her hand “Thanks, B! That was beautiful.”

 

“Sorry, it was supposed to be longer and then I heard what Jughead had written, and I knew one of us had to be on the shorter side.” Betty whispered back. The expression on Veronica’s face was caught between laughter and panic.

 

Betty watched as her husband walked to the mic with his glass. “Hi, everyone. I am Jughead Cooper-Jones. For years Archie has been teasing me for the way I proposed to my wife. He has called it lazy, absurd, un-romantic, and most memorably “the epitome of slacker-chic”.” There was lots of laughter and Jughead had to pause. Betty could not help but blush a little at all this. “This is all because I proposed to my wife by saying, “I love you. What do you think about getting married on Tuesday.” and she said “Sure, as long as you handle the paperwork.”

 

There was a lot of laughter. Betty remembers that at the time it hadn’t felt funny, or un-romantic. They had been on a long walk through the city, avoiding both their apartments and their various roommates. It was a cold winter day, but not so bitter that you couldn’t be comfortable if properly bundled.

 

They had been talking about their plans for the week, and that is when Jughead had asked. The way he had said it so plainly, as if it was just an inevitable fact, was endearing to her, because that was what their love was, a fact, and that was how marriage felt, inevitable. To treat a proposal like a surprise, would have been silly, and frankly rather unlike either of them at the time.

 

“So Archie talked to me for two years about his various proposal plans. They ranged from a little over the top to completely melodramatic. All involved a great deal of planning. And he would always rib me about my lazy proposal while telling me his schemes.” There was more laughter at this.

 

“Then one night last October I get a call from Archie and he actually left a message on my machine. I will play it for you now.”

 

Jughead gets his phone out and holds it up to the microphone and clicks play. You can hear fuzz in the background as Archie says “Hey Man. Ronnie’s pregnant. I asked her to marry me. She said yes. So that is happening. Can you be one of my groomsman? Betty can be best man?”. There was Veronica’s voice in the background saying something that was angry, but you couldn’t make out the words. “Never mind, you can be my best man. Apparently, Ronnie’s called dibs on Betty. So call us back please.”

 

Betty watched as Archie doubled over in laughter. He probably had forgotten that message entirely. The rest of the audience was roaring too.

 

“I would like to point out my restraint about not saying anything about Archie’s lazy proposal, till now. I never even said I told you so.”

 

Archie managed an insulted _hey_ between laughs. Though Betty wasn’t sure anyone noticed because they were all laughing too.

 

“The thing about marriage that I think Archie finally figured out, is that marriage isn’t about the proposal, or even this day, as magnificent as it is, but it is about spending the rest of your lives together. That is the undisputed best part. To commit to someone so entirely is one of the best feelings in the whole world. And I say that after being married for five years, and I am sure I will say it after being married for forty. I wish you two the best and I am so excited to see your future unfold together.”

 

There was lots of clapping and Jughead sends Betty a wink as he turns around. Betty is still surprised by how much a public speaker he had become. Being an author had forced him into that.

 

Finally, they finish the toasts, Fred says a particularly good one, so does Mary. Veronica’s parents are not there of course. She hasn’t spoken to them since she left Riverdale, as far as Betty knows. It feels strange that between the four of them, only one of them has a relationship with his parents as an adult, and a good one at that.

 

After the toasts Archie and Veronica get up for the first dance. Betty eagerly gets up from her seat next to Veronica and joins Jughead in the ring around the dance floor.

 

“It felt weird to be separated from you.” Betty whispers to Jughead as Archie and Veronica start dancing, to a song Betty dismisses as generic. Not just talking about the seating arrangement at dinner which placed Veronica and Archie firmly between them, but everything that came before that. Betty had been with Veronica helping her prep since eight in the morning and it was now seven and outside of the photo sessions and staring at each other across the church, they had barely seen each other.

 

“Tell me about it.”  Jughead squeezes her hand. “How is your stomach?”

 

“Not great.” It had almost interrupted the wedding ceremony itself, actually, but she did not want to relive that just now. “But it is holding together.”

 

The song changes and other couples join Archie and Veronica on the dance floor. Kevin comes up to them and they give him big hugs and he introduces them to his date, who seems nice. They all went out and danced for a while with Archie and Veronica. Veronica pulled Betty into a hug and confessed how fast she was fading. Betty reassured her that no one could tell.

 

It’s strange in some ways because she and Jughead went through the newlywed stage so long ago she can barely remember it, but they are just now circling the let’s have kids stage, the stage that Archie and Veronica are firmly in now. Although for Betty this stage is complicated by the Crohn’s. Each time Betty was sure they were ready to start trying, she backed away from it at the last second. Jughead’s been supportive about it, but she knows the whole process exhausts him emotionally. In fact they have spent two months now, actively not talking about it.

 

She and Jughead bow out of the dancing temporarily so they can go get water. As they approach the bar, Jughead sweeps her into an unexpected kiss. She can feel the warmth of it glide down her body. He pulls away and asks “How long do you think we have to wait till leaving?”

 

“At least till Archie and Veronica leave. It is protocol.”

 

Jughead pulls Betty into his side and whispers “I was worried you would say that. We have a really nice and expensive hotel room to get back to, and that nice dress to get you out of.”

 

Betty laughs and Jughead adds “and frankly I don’t really like dancing or polite chatting to strangers.” Betty has to admit he has a point. They already have all of tomorrow booked for actually catching up with the people they know here, and the kind of casual socializing you do at weddings didn’t appeal to her either.

 

“Veronica is carrying a creature the size of a squash that is sucking all of her energy, and if we turn in before her, she may never forgive us.” Betty says pulling away from Jughead as he laughs and ordering a glass of sparkling water from the bartender. Jughead orders an IPA.

 

Someone taps Betty on the back and she turns toward them. It is a short women around their age wearing a beautiful purple dress and far too much makeup.

 

“Hi, I’m Lena. I’ve heard so much about you two” The women gushes pulling Betty into a hug. Betty can smell the liquor on her breath. Apparently the women is so drunk she can’t read Jughead’s body language which clearly says – don’t touch me, and she hugs him as well. Betty has to force herself not to laugh at the expression on Jugheads face when he is hugged. A wince and a grimace combined.

 

“You work with Veronica, right?” Betty asks, she remembers Veronica mentioning her a time or two. Something about her being a recovering Catholic and a workaholic.

 

“Yes. I’m a lawyer at the firm. Not a partner like Veronica, but the same division.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“You are in publishing right? Some sort of editor.” Betty nods, as it seems to be a rhetorical question. “and you” she turns towards Jughead “are an author.”

 

“Sometimes. I am mostly a bartender.” Jughead replies tersely. Betty can tell he wants out of this conversation, but they don’t exactly have an escape plan. This is one of Veronica’s good friends, they can’t just bulldoze their way out of here. Besides Betty just remembered something else about Lena which makes her more sympathetic towards her. Lena was just left by her husband of one year, for another woman.

 

“Jughead likes to under-sell himself.” Betty says. And it is true. Jughead’s first book had done relatively well, although it was by no means a NYT bestseller, it actually had become a sort of cult favorite, in the genre of mysteries. Jughead was ninety percent through his second novel now, and it should be published the following summer. He was still working at the bar though. Betty’s job at the Chicago Review Press, was a good one, but she didn’t bring home very much money. If they were still living in their crappy but beloved first apartment it would be more than enough to support both of them, but now they owned a much nicer condo, and so had considerably more overhead.

 

Besides for the son of an alcoholic, Jughead had created a surprisingly symbiotic relationship with the Pauper’s Pub. He didn’t drink much still, never more than the occasional beer, but his job gave him an excuse to be there, around his crowd of regulars. It gave him a good reason to continue being a night owl.

 

“So what is the secret to your marriage?” Lena asked loudly.

 

“Sex.” said Jughead, clearly still not a fan of Lena. Betty pushed her palm into his chest as a way to scold him. Betty knows the correct therapist and TV approved answer here is hard work, and it isn’t like she and Jughead don’t work on it, but it certainly isn’t the secret. Lots of couples work on it and it doesn’t work out. Mary and Fred were a prime example of that.

 

“The love of doing anything together. We enjoy going to Staples together, or cleaning the house, or dropping by the library, really anything. We don’t need big dates or fancy outings. We just like spending time together.” Betty says and she is about to get into more of the nitty gritty of what all that means when her phone rings. The number is unknown, but has the Riverdale area code. Who would be calling her from there?

 

She answers it just in case and a strangers voice on the other end says “I am nurse Irene at Riverdale General Hospital and I am calling for Betty Cooper.”

 

“Speaking.” Betty says, her lungs feel like they are struggling for air.

 

“Alice Cooper was just brought in with a heart attack. They are treating her now. Her condition appears to be stabilizing.” Betty feels drunk all of a sudden, with shock, as if the world just lurched outside of its orbit and started on a completely different path. Her mother might be dying and Betty hasn’t spoken to her in half a decade. That second fact seems so ludicrous now, in light of the first.

 

“Wait, why are you calling me?”

 

“You are your mother’s emergency contact person.” Betty is shocked, but then realizes how much her mother must have isolated herself from the community at large.

 

“Now I realize this is a lot to handle, but Alice is currently unconscious, and any medical decisions must be made by you.”

 

“Ok. I will be there as soon as possible.” Riverdale is a 6 hour drive from the venue in Brooklyn, but there would be more traffic at this time of night. Betty realizes now that Jughead is staring at her with confusion.  But she doesn’t want to go into it now in front of Lena. She hangs up the phone and grabs his hand “We’ve got to go, sorry Lena, it is an emergency.” Lena nods at them as Betty pushes past.

 

“Betty, I thought you said we couldn’t leave before Veronica.” Jughead said, a look of confusion on his face.

 

“She will understand why we left. That was Riverdale General Hospital, my mom had a heart attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter just kept growing and growing and the end surprised me. But I think it is the right one. I am really grateful for any and all feedback!


	7. After the Sixth

**January 12 th, 2027**

“I hope the unpacking is going well. I looked up Rockridge online and I honestly think you guys could have found a much safer neighborhood to live in. Why live in Oakland at all? Berkeley would be a much better fit. I did book my tickets though, so get that guest bedroom ready. I will be arriving on the 6th of March and leaving on the 11th. Betty, that covers one weekend so I should be able to see plenty of you this time, even with the new job. But…” That is when the message machine mercifully cuts Alice Cooper off.

 

Jughead has gotten more used to actually having an in-law in his life, and the heart attack appeared to have mellowed his mother-in-law a bit, but she was still best in small doses. When Betty had been in her last flare and had a work deadline at the same time, Alice had flown to Chicago, and gotten them through the worst of it, in a way that both surprised and impressed Jughead. He could see why having parents in your life could really help when it came down to it.

 

It had also made Betty more comfortable with the concept of having kids, the possibility of having back up, even if that back up came with lots (and lots and lots) of unsolicited advice. Betty had been flare free for six months now, and she had managed to pull through the move and the transition to the new job without any issues. They were trying again. They had tried before, but a flare had started, and Betty had lost so much weight that the doctors advised them to wait. It would be hard to get pregnant in the state she was in.

 

Jughead looked out the condo window and could see the park, a block and a half away. This building seemed full of kids. Every time they were in the elevator, there seemed to be a child pushing the button or hiding behind their mom’s skirt. They had been here a week now, and only twice had they been on a child free elevator.

 

If this trying thing didn’t work out again, they may just have to move. Every time he sees a small baby, he feels his insides pinch with jealousy – he wants one in his arms so badly, he is ashamed of this impulse, he hasn’t even told Betty about it.

 

Jughead wipes down the kitchen counter and looks around the condo. Everything is set up now, more or less. The plates put away, the new Ikea table built, the sofa adorned with two throw pillows too many. It is a three bedroom, and one of the bedrooms is glaringly empty, the other two are an office and their bedroom.

 

He hears the door open behind him, and he turns to see Betty come in carrying her reusable shopping bag from the Berkeley Bowl stuffed full of groceries and her briefcase. Her hair is down, as she has been wearing it lately, and it makes her face seem softer. Jughead has been calling it her hippy hair. She smiles at him as she places the shopping bag on the kitchen counter.

 

“Hi Love.” She says.

 

“You are home early.” Jughead replies. It’s just 1:00 and Betty usually arrives around 6 if he is lucky. Or she did in Chicago, they are still sorting out what the routine will be in California.

 

“I felt like being home with you.” One of the perks of her new job at Chronicle Books, besides the pay raise and the warmer location, was that they didn’t mind her working from home. Remote work was actually encouraged there. It made sense with her disease, and also with Jughead’s writing schedule. They hadn’t actually been able to work together yet though, as they were still adjusting to this whole new world.

 

“I was just about to head out to write in a coffee shop. Do you want to come with?” Jughead asks, his laptop is already packed in his satchel, all charged up and ready to go.

 

“Sure.” She says, kissing him lightly.

 

“We could have a nap first before heading out?” He asks

 

“A nap?” She says eyebrow raised.

 

“Ok, not really so much a nap as a naked snuggle.”

 

“Oh, is that we are calling it these days.” she says following him into the bedroom.

 

“I could call it a naked baby making snuggle instead.”

 

“We can hope.” Betty kisses him in a way that seemed to conveys longing.

 

“We can try, which is a lot more than just hoping.” Jughead kisses along her neck.

 

It ended up feeling like more than trying. It felt like he had planted something in her this time, the seed of a tree. But it could just be his imagination. He told himself that. He had felt this way before and they had never seen more than one line on a pregnancy test.

 

They snuggled after, two spoons, but they still made it to the coffee shop by three. Betty set a focus timer for her work, and orders tea. She had been off coffee for two months now, one small part of making her womb “a less hostile environment” – her words not Jugheads.

 

It was nice in the coffee shop, warm after the chill outside and he liked listening to the people chat around them, and the repetitive sound of laptop keys as he typed. The sound of editing was so different than typing he noticed. Betty’s keyboard silent for long stretches and then a little bit of noise followed by silence again.

 

“How is the book your working on?”

 

“Good. Although I have to say it is strange editing a cookbook on bread when I haven’t eaten the stuff in years.”

 

Jughead laughed “I could edit it.” Although he mostly doesn’t eat bread now, his meal habits largely linked with Bettys.

 

They returned to the rhythm of work again. He could get used to this. Working side by side with his wife on different projects.

 

He has been working in coffee shops more just to force himself out of the house. He misses working at The Pauuper’s Pub, he and Alan have started an email routine and he texts more than he expected with other regulars, but it isn’t the same. He could get another bartending job here, but they don’t really need the money and he likes having the evenings all with Betty again. Still he knows that if they don’t make friends in this new town he will go crazy.

 

Finally, as the evening dark rolled in, they packed up and headed home, hand in hand. They passed by the ice cream place that always had a line out the door, and the pet chiropractor, and a bookstore.

 

They talked about small things, Alice’s impending visit, their summer plans with Archie, Veronica, and baby Pearl, and what they would eat tonight, the whole time Jughead’s thoughts kept returning to the possibility of something, someone growing inside Betty. He knew if he said something about that out loud it would put more pressure on Betty, so he kept those words on his tongue.

 

They entered the lobby of the condo and found a family already waiting for the elevator. Two women, one with a baby in a carrier on her chest, and the other with a toddler on her shoulders.

 

“Hi!” Betty says to them as the elevator arrives and they all pile in. The toddler grins at Betty, who crosses her eyes and sticks out her tongue. The toddler laughs and lean backwards.

 

“Careful up there.” the women holding on to her ankles says. The elevator dings on the 6th floor and they all get out.

 

“Are you our new neighbors?” The baby carrying women asks.

 

“Yes.” Jughead says, extending a hand “I am Jughead and this is my wife Betty.”

 

The baby carrier women shakes his hand and says “I am Karen, this is my wife Carol, and these are our daughters.” she points at the one in the baby carrier and says “Thea” and then pointing at the one on Carol’s back she says “Jane.”

 

“It is good to meet you.” Betty says.

 

“Where did you move here from?” Karen asks.

 

“Chicago.” Betty answers.

 

“Ah! So you moved for the weather.”

 

“Work actually. I got a job with Chronicle Books. Jughead’s a writer, so he can work anywhere.”

 

“A writer, eh? Have you written anything I’ve read.” Jughead winces, it was after all the age old question, and how was he to know what strangers have read.

 

“Maybe. My second book made it into the double digits of the New York Times Non-fiction Bestsellers List. It’s called of _Drugs and Movement_.”

 

“I’ve got it on my shelf! I haven’t read it yet though. I’m an addiction councilor though, so I keep meaning to get to it.” Carol says with a smile on her face.

 

“Oh. While I have no training in that area really. I am the son of an addict though.” It always surprised Jughead when his mouth volunteered information he didn’t really want to reveal. Although it was all a moot point. The book was mostly research based, but there were references to his father, to the drug running practices of the serpents in it, so if she did actually read it, she would know a lot more about him then the simple fact that his dad was an addict.

 

“What do you do Karen?” Betty asks.

 

“I am a stay at home mom. I used to be a teacher, but frankly, this is more fulfilling.”

 

“Have you always lived in the area?” Betty asks.

 

“No, Carol is from LA and I grew up in Toronto. But we met here five years ago and we have been living here ever since.” Karen says. They are all lingering in the hallway now, and Jughead is getting hungrier by the minute. He can tell by the expression Jane has on her face, she is getting rather impatient.

 

“We have to start dinner now, but it was really great running into you. We will have to have you over sometime.” Jughead says.

 

“That would be great.”

 

Betty unlocks their door and they enter and start cooking together, Jughead prepares the meat and Betty focused on the vegetables. This American Life is playing in the background. This existence they have together, this quiet and calm one, will all change if they have a baby. As much as Jughead loves this, he is ready for the unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so grateful for the thoughtful comments! For some reason out of all the chapters I've written so far this is the one I am most nervous about.


	8. After the Seventh

**January 12 th, 2028**

Betty wakes before Ava cries for the first time in weeks. The condo glows with the soft pink of morning around them. Betty can see Ava swaddled in her bassinet next to the bed. A little baby burrito, not even stirring yet.

 

Betty checks the time, 6:30 AM. She has to get up now if she is going to be at work on time she scolds herself, all she wants to do is stay in Jughead’s arms and in the warmth of the bed. Then she realizes it is Saturday, and she can stay exactly where she is for as long as the baby and her bladder allows her. Though this feeling keeps bother her, like something is supposed to happen today, but she can’t remember what.

 

She looks at Ava’s perfect cheeks, her already thick hair, and she can’t believe that she and Jughead made this person. That she pushed this person out of her body in less than an hour surprises her even more. She feels overcome by the love she has for her family. That is of course when Ava starts to cry.

 

Betty is feeding her in bed when Jughead wakes. The crease of the sheets leaving an odd pattern on his face.

 

“Good Morning wonderful.”

 

“Are you saying that to me or the baby?” Betty asks.

 

“Both.” Jughead smiles at her and kisses her cheek. He still has that hazy look in the eyes that means he is not fully awake “Did the baby sleep through the night?”

 

“She only got up once. Around 2:30?”

 

“Good. When are Karen and Carol coming over?” Shit. That was what was happening today, they were coming to brunch in a couple of hours. She ran over the groceries in the fridge in her head, and thankfully she had everything she needed.

 

“At 9.” She says, finally answering Jughead. “I forgot.”

 

“What are we making?”

 

“Frittata.”

 

“I thought you were off potatoes and dairy.” Jughead says, and Betty is mostly, but it is really hard to come up with brunch options that don’t have much dairy, gluten, or starches. Besides everything had been good for almost a year and a half now, an unprecedented amount.

 

“I make exceptions.” Jughead looks at her a little skeptically, but just nods. They have had more arguments about food than any other couple she knows, but even they can take a day off. After all everything is going so well, right now, occasional sleep deprivation aside. Karen had assured them that they had pretty much the easiest baby in the universe, and while Betty only had old memories of the twins to compare Ava to, she is inclined to agree. 

 

Ava even lets them cook breakfast together, as she sits in the bouncer, staring at the kitchen. Since Betty had returned to work there had been too little family time and too much scraping things together time. Although there had been some good friend visits, Archie and Veronica came the weekend after Ava was born, with Pearl in tow. Pearl wobble-walking everywhere and getting in to everything.

 

Alice had stayed with them for a month after the birth and she was so soft towards Ava that Betty could have sworn her mother was a different person. Once in the middle of the night Betty woke and realized Ava was not in the bassinet beside her. Betty went into the living room where she heard Alice talking to Ava. Alice told Ava all about the moon and the stars and about Jughead and Betty. Alice told Ava that the whole universe loved her, no matter what. This was not the mother that had raised Betty, and Betty was thankful for that.

 

There was a knock on the door and Jughead let Karen, Carol, Thea, and Jane in. They had quickly become their closest friends in California, even before Ava was born, but it was only after Ava was born that Betty realized just how wonderful it was that they lived next door. Karen would drop off her kids when she needed to run errands and visa versa. The families were able to give each other breaks, support each other.   

 

“So I brought stuff for mimosas, and I was hoping Jughead would be up for joining us.” Karen said, setting orange juice and champagne on the counter.

 

“Yes.” Jughead said, handing both of them a cup of coffee. Betty sipped coffee from her own mug, watching Jane as she opened the box of toys they kept in their apartment for her. Jane pulled out a hedgehog from the box and snuggled it. Thea came over and wrapped herself around Betty’s leg. Then Thea and Betty went over to where Ava had fallen asleep in her bouncer.

 

“Hi baby” Thea says gently stroking ava’s hand. Betty’s heart glowed.

 

Soon everyone was eating and drinking around the table, except for Ava still asleep in her bouncer.  A year ago, Betty would not have dared to dream of this perfection, and yet here they were. She rested her hand on Jughead’s thigh. Karen and Jughead were bantering about being stay at home parents although Jughead wasn’t one entirely. They had a nanny come in four hours on weekdays so he could get his writing done.

 

“So what is the most inane thing you have been praised for as a stay at home father?” Karen asked.

 

“Someone called me the best dad in the world for changing Ava’s diaper the other day.” Jughead replies.

 

All the women laughed.

 

“If only it was that easy to be the best mother in the world.” Karen said with a sigh. “So how is it being back at work, Betty?”

 

“Ok. It is hard to be away from Ava but it is also nice to be back to editing. I love the book I am working on at the moment, and the next few manuscripts in the pipeline seem like good fits too. Of course, I still have that problematic boss, but you already know that.” Betty says.

 

“I don’t think there is much we don’t know about your lives, or visa-versa.” Carol said with a smile.

 

“Actually, I think it is fair to say that there is a lot you don’t know about us.” Jughead says with a smirk. Betty gently hits his leg with the palm of her hand, wondering how many mimosas he has had. Not that his mischievous streak requires alcohol to fuel it.

 

It is true that Karen and Carol know a lot about their current lives, and now that they have read both of Jughead’s books they know a little more about their past, but there are still huge chunks missing.  

 

“What?” Karen says with a lazy smile on her face. “Tell us something we don’t know.”

 

“Betty’s father was a serial killer.” Jughead says, both Karen and Carol’s mouths dropped open. 

 

“Jughead.” Betty scolds, but gently. It would have come out sometime. Plus Karen and Carol’s expressions almost made it worth it.

 

“She was the one to catch him.” Jughead adds.

 

“And that didn’t make the cut for the first book?” Carol asks.

 

“My editor removed it, because it sounded too unrealistic.”

 

“Was he a serial killer we heard of?” Karen inquires.

 

“No.” Betty is desperate to change the subject “You remember how in Jughead’s book about gangs he talks about how his father lead one?” They nod to make it clear that they do. “Jughead neglects to mention the fact that he ran it for two years after his father stepped down. You know that whole chapter about the anonymous informant talking about moving drugs between states, that anonymous informant is Jughead.”

 

“Betty.” Jughead says it in such an exasperated tone but with such a big smile on his face that she can’t help but laugh.

 

“You have to be careful what you say about me. I have all the dirt on you.” Betty says, and Jughead leans over to kiss her.

 

“Aren’t you glad Ava can’t understand what we are saying yet?” Jughead whispers in Betty’s ear. She squeezes his hand.

 

“So what about you guys? Anything we don’t know?” Betty asks. Karen just shakes her head, a smile on her face.

 

“I cheated on a math test once.” Carol says and everyone laughs.

 

“Mommy, cheating is wrong.” Jane says. Her tone of voice very condescending. Everyone laughs more, except for Jane who looks offended by everyone’s reaction.

 

“So basically, you grew up and got boring?” Karen asks.

 

“That sounds about right.” Jughead says.

 

“Thank goodness.” Betty adds.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up writing this chapter while my youngest is right around the age of Ava in the story. I am super excited about the next chapter, which contains more drama than the rest of the story. I actually wrote the bulk of it before the last two, because I knew how important it was to the story arc. I am traveling for two weeks on Friday, so I am hoping to post it before then, but we will see.


	9. After the Eighth

**January 12 th, 2029**

Ava had spent 20 minutes in the sandbox, piling the sand into little hills, then stomping on them, again and again before Jughead’s attention had started to drift towards his phone and the ever present pull of the internet. Half of the other parents in the busy playground had already given into temptation.

 

Jughead still kept a keen eye on Ava, looking up every two minutes. Every time she was doing the same damn thing, and it wasn’t that she wasn’t adorable doing it – she was, but it was still boring, particularly considering this was all she did when they visited the park lately. While other toddlers were obsessed with the slide or the swings, this was Ava’s major preoccupation.

 

He looked up again and this time he noticed for a man with dark sunglasses handing his daughter sand. Ava took it from the man with a smile. Ava had not yet gone through a stranger danger phase, and suddenly Jughead really wish she had.

 

Jughead grabs her swiftly and stands up, arranging her so that her face is pressed against the flannel of his shirt. She cries loudly and hits him, the suddenness of his movement clearly terrifying her.

 

“It is ok, Ava.” He murmurs a few times, only after she calms down does he look up at the man in the sunglasses, his father. It is the first time in over a decade that he’d seen him and little had changed. FP still dressed the same, but his hair was more gray than black now.

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jughead says covering Ava’s ears as best he can, but focusing mainly on the problem in front of him. Because his father being here is a problem. One he didn’t see coming.

 

“I came to see my grand-daughter” FP said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

“I think you gave up the rights to even call her that, oh, about a decade ago.” Jughead says. The park was so close to their condo he hadn’t even bothered bringing the stroller, so he just scoops up the diaper bag up and starts to walk away.

 

“Can we please talk.” FP says walking after him. Jughead was sure other people in the park were listening to their whole conversation. This was beyond awkward. That was Ava’s normal park and his father was destroying it for them.

 

“No.” Jughead said, he was walking faster now, but not in the direction of the condo. He had no desire for his father to know where they lived, if he didn’t know already.

 

“I’ve been sober for five years.”

 

“Good for you.”

 

“I want back in your life.” Jughead was walking faster and faster down the street. His chest filled with rage.

 

“Why now?” Jughead asks, not stopping. He can feel Ava clinging to him. He knows she is nervous. He should be doing something more to comfort her than holding her, but frankly that is all he feels capable of right now.

 

“Because…” there is just the sound of them walking for a few minutes. FP is walking a little behind Jughead.

 

“Because you have a grand-daughter now? Ruining one generation of Joneses childhood wasn’t enough? You want to ruin another?”

 

Jughead turns and faces FP. He feels now like he did as a teen with the Serpents, all of this righteous anger flowing through him, this desire to protect the ones that he loved by any means. He is sure this anger shows in his face, in his tensed muscles as his dad asks “Can we just talk calmly?”

 

In Jughead’s arms Ava began to cry again. Jughead just wanted to say no, for his father to stop following him, and for everything to return to normal. But he can’t. Who said his father wouldn’t be back again, or try something terrible? He had to deal with this now, but not right now, with a crying daughter in his arms.

 

“I can meet you and the Elmwood Coffee Shop in 15 minutes. I can’t be there for very long.”

 

“Ok.” FP smiled, almost as if he knew Jughead was going to say that. Then he waved at Jughead as if they had just had a pleasant conversation, and walks off.

 

Jughead turns around and runs as best he could with Ava in his arms, towards home. Betty should be just getting back from work right now. He wanted her there with him for this conversation with his dad. They could leave Ava with Karen.

 

He kept running, Ava sinking deeper into his shoulder. When he arrives home he is surprised to discover Ava is asleep in his arms, black hair covering part of her face. Jughead walks straight past Betty with a finger pressed to his lips, and deposits Ava in her crib, then he comes back to Betty.  She already knew something was wrong. He could tell by her face. She just didn’t know what.

 

“FP was at the park. I told him I would meet him at the Elmwood Café in 15 minutes, about 10 minutes ago.”

 

“Shit.”

 

“Yeah, but I thought you could come with me. Is Karen home?”

 

“I will check.” Betty said pressing a comforting kiss on to his lips. He could almost taste the concern. They had shared this life together without his father for so long, that this was unfamiliar territory. It felt like walking on the moon, or more accurately a home invasion.

 

Betty returns a minute later with Karen, Thea, and June. They thank Karen and go. Even though they walk as fast as they can, Jughead updating Betty along the way, they are still 10 minutes late.

 

When they arrive, FP is so focused on stirring his coffee, he doesn’t even notice them enter.

 

They sit down across from him, not even bothering to order. FP looks up and seems surprised to see Betty, whose name he shouts loudly while extending his hand. Betty gives him one of her forced smiles.

 

“I should have figured you would be here.” FP says with a nod.

 

“How do you know about Ava?” Jughead asks, cutting straight to the point. This is not a make everything better meeting, they are long past that. This is a find out what is going on, and putting it to stop moment, and the sooner that happens the better.

 

“Facebook” FP says, looking down at his hands. Jughead doesn’t have Facebook at all.

 

“I don’t have you on Facebook.” Betty says, “and I don’t share anything publicly.”

 

“Archie.” FP replies.

 

“Archie has you on Facebook?” Jughead says sharply. That shocks him. Archie knows how he feels about FP. Hell, Archie was there when Jughead came home the day before graduation to find the trailer riddled with bullets, he saw the blood on the floor too. When Jughead first started looking for his father all those years ago, he thought he was looking for a dead body, when in fact his father had fled the state of his own free will. Sure, FP had good reasons, but he could have told Jughead he survived at least. Jughead and Betty had found FP with three months of that, but FP didn’t know that at the time, probably didn’t know that now.

 

“No.” FP won’t meet their eyes and is instead awkwardly looking at his coffee.  “He’s not very good with security settings. He is really proud of your little one, apparently.”

 

“How did you find us?” Jughead asks, it is one thing to see a Facebook post it is another to track down a person on the other side of the country. He could tell right away that FP didn’t want to answer this one at all, FP looked at his coffee mug, now half empty, as if it was the most fascinating object in the world.

 

“I used connections.”

 

Betty who has been silently clinching and un-clinching her fists this whole time, asks “Gang connections?”

 

“Alice told me.”

 

Jughead glances at Betty who is wearing an expression he hasn’t seen in years, the one she regularly wore during their last year of high school. The one that had half the school and the principle shaking in fear.

 

“She should have known better.” Betty remarks.

 

“I kind of forced her hand. Don’t take this out on her. She said she was out of your life for a long time but you let her back in. I thought if you could forgive her, I had a shot.”

 

“That was a different situation. Alice cut us off for eloping. It still took a heart attack to bring her back into our life.”  Jughead says.

 

“People were trying to kill me, boy.”

 

“I haven’t been a boy for a long time. And for the record, I thought people had killed you, before we found out otherwise.”

 

“So you won’t let me have a relationship with my grand-daughter because your feelings were hurt?”

 

“No, we won’t let you have a relationship with your grand-daughter because you opted out of your son’s life, more than once. We want to raise our daughter to trust others. You popping in and out of her life when you choose to, won’t help with that.’ Betty says, her eyes focused on FP.

 

“So let me prove that I’ve changed that I am here for the long run.”

 

“It’s too late for that.” Jughead says. “We came here to make it clear that we don’t want you back in our lives. This isn’t a negotiation. This is us protecting our own.”

 

“I used to be part of that son.”

 

“You aren’t anymore. You haven’t been since I saw you through that diner window in Nebraska.”

 

“So you did actually go there? Like in the book? I read it son. It was a hell of a story and it ended with reconciliation.”

 

“My editor made me add that.” Jughead stops himself from adding the word dad on to the end of that sentence.

 

“Will you at least take my contact information?”

 

“No.” Jughead snaps at the same time Betty kicks him under the table. He meets her eyes. Even without speaking she makes it clear that there is nothing they could lose by taking it.  “Ok.”

 

FP scrawls his phone number and email address on the back of the napkin. Betty takes it and puts it in her purse.

 

“We have got to go now.” Betty says getting up, and Jughead takes her hand, still feeling a little shaky from all this.

 

“I am glad I got to see you two.” FP says, as if he had experienced a totally different meeting then them.

 

“Bye.” Betty says with a nod. They leave him there and walk out. Jughead’s hand is still trembling in Betty’s. When they are a block away from the café it stills.

 

“I still love him.” Jughead says. Betty squeezes his hand.

 

“I know.”

 

“I just don’t want him to break our daughter’s heart.”

 

“Agreed. That is why I took his phone number. Maybe we can figure something out. Not now, but in the future.” Jughead looks at Betty, he still can’t believe sometimes that this is their lives now. A comfortable income, a good place to live, the best love, the best daughter.

 

Seeing his dad just reminded him of how far he had come, how far he had been forced to come to get here. It brought back the first few years of his relationship with Betty, the stressful ones that involved investigating and covering up crimes in almost equal measure. The years that had forged them into a team, but almost destroyed them as individuals.

 

“I love you so much.” Jughead said. “If all I had was you and Ava it would be more than enough.”

 

“I know.” Betty said with a smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hopefully I pulled this chapter off. It’s strange because FP is one of my favorite characters, in and out of fanfiction and originally things ended a little more peacefully, but it kept not feeling true to where Jughead (and Betty) are at this point and how “new” parents are in general. 
> 
> I posted two chapters this week because I am traveling with my two small children for the next week and a half and I would be foolish to think that I am going to get any writing time (but who knows!). So there may be a little delay before the final two chapters.
> 
> Next Chapter: JB, less drama, more fluff.


	10. After the Ninth

**January 12 th, 2030   
**

JB asks Ava what she wants at the café.

 

“Steamed Milk” she replies confidently.

 

JB approaches the counter to order, Ava’s hand in hers. The barista turns towards them and gives Ava a huge grin “How is my favorite regular?” she asks.

 

“Good. Steamed Milk please, Laura.” Ava says. A surprisingly full sentence for a two year old, although JB is quickly realizing how verbal her niece really is.

 

“Who is this?” Laura asks.

 

“Bio Auntie JB” Ava says, and JB is confused for a second. But then she realizes this is what distinguishes her from Ava’s other aunties – Karen, Carol, and Veronica, all of whom she spends more time with, but none of whom she is actually related to. This must be something Jughead or Betty says, to make the difference clear, even if Ava has no clue what it means.

 

“Ah. Nice to meet you! The whole rest of the family is regulars.” Laura says.

 

“I would be if I didn’t live in Brooklyn.” JB replies and then orders an Americano. Although now that Ava is walking and talking she is finding it harder and harder to stay away from Oakland. This is her third visit in a year. It’s strange because although she always loved Jug, and liked Betty, but before they had Ava visiting them was a hard sell, even if they had a good time, strolling through art galleries and parks.

 

Now that Ava was in the picture visits were far less relaxed but much more enjoyable. JB had spent an hour straight reading to Ava last night (if she had to read Dogger one more time, she might burn the book afterwards, as charming as it was).

 

JB takes their drinks to a table and Ava sits down on her lap. A text comes through on JB’s phone and she opens it. It’s from Jug and all it says is – **Betty is too sick to come. Will be there in 5 minutes**.

 

Betty has been sick a lot this trip but when JB asked Jug if it was worse than before he just shook his head and explained that it was just a flare, and as flares go this didn’t seem to be a particularly bad one. JB had always thought of flares in terms of pants before this trip, though that thinking had clearly shifted.

 

“What is that doggie named?” Ava asks, pointing outside.

 

“I don’t know.” JB replies, as she admires the large Australian Shepard.

“What is your doggie named?” Ava asks JB.

 

“I don’t have one sweatpea.”

 

“What is your kitty named?”

 

“I don’t have one either.”

 

“Oh. What is your brother named?”

 

“Jughead.” JB replied with a smile.

 

“Oh, That’s daddies name.” Ava says as if it is the biggest coincidence in the world.

 

“Yep. Your dad is my brother. That is how I became an auntie.”

 

“Really? Who am I auntie to?”

 

JB laughs “You won’t be one for a long time.” Or JB realizes after saying that, maybe ever. She doesn’t know about Jughead and Betty’s position on more children, but Betty being this sick was probably a factor.

 

Jughead enters with a wave and Ava waves back. If it was Betty entering Ava would have given her a running hug. She loves her dad, but she is a complete mommy’s girl. More than that she is a women’s girl, taking to most females before males. When she was really young she would cry if a man looked at her too long, but she seems to have gotten over that stage.

 

Jughead orders at the counter than comes over with his coffee. “How is it going?”

 

“Good. We went to the park and went down the slide and fed the ducks and now we are here.”

 

Jughead smiles. “Has she worn you out yet?”

 

JB fakes a yawn “Not yet!”

 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Ava snuggling into JB’s lap.

 

“Jug, I should probably tell you I’ve applied to a few jobs here and in SF. I haven’t got anything yet, but I have a skype interview next week.”

 

Jughead smiles broadly. He hadn’t been part of her life for most of the time she was growing up, and the time they had spent together, she doesn’t remember much of, although it is clear that he does, which puts her at a bit of a disadvantage. For a while that had made their relationship a little strained, the in-balance in it. But the first trip she took out after Ava was born changed all that. She saw how Jughead looked at Ava and something came back to her, more of a feeling than a memory. Jug had looked at her a lot like that when she was young. He had taken care of her as best he could with their limited age gab. He hadn’t ever told her that, but just looking at him with his daughter, had brought back that knowledge. Since then they had been a lot closer.

 

“That would be amazing! We always wanted free child care!”

 

“Jug!”

 

“Kidding, really. We already have Carol and Karen next door, but really, we would have to have you in our lives like that. It would be amazing.”

 

“It’s not too much?”

 

“Not at all. I love having you in my life, and so does Betty and clearly Ava.”

 

“I’m glad. I love Ava so much. I also think I understand you and Betty better now that I’ve seen you interact with Ava.”

 

“What do you mean?” Jughead said, his facial expression serious.

 

“I guess before you were just a little intimidating. The first time I came and visited you and Betty in Chicago, I think you were newlyweds at the time, it was very much you guys against the world.” Jughead looks particularly confused at that statement, so JB clarifies “I mean you were very much in love, that much was obvious, but it always seemed like you were both on the verge of going to battle for the other. For example, on that visit I told Betty I was a vegetarian, after she had already make dinner, which I confess was an idiot move, and you looked like you wanted to hit me.”

 

“I would never hit you.” Jughead said looking a little insulted.

 

“No, of course not. I just could tell that you wanted to. Wanting something and doing it are two different things right? In any case you softened a bit by the time you moved here, but it wasn’t till I saw you with Ava that you got even warmer, and I also started to understand your protectiveness. I even realized that it extended to me.”

 

“It does. I mean when you were the first person I felt that way about. Also I don’t mean to be aggressively protective like that. It’s just I felt like I had to be for a lot of reasons. I mean you know our parents, and you’ve met Alice now. And the situation with the Southside versus the Northside, I just felt like I always had to defend myself and my loved ones. I know I don’t have to anymore, the same way, but it is a hard habit to overcome.”

 

“And I get that more now. I get how lucky I was to have you before mom and I left. I didn’t realize that before. I do now. And I want to get to know you and Betty even better.”

 

“and Ava?””

 

“Mostly Ava, actually. She is the best out of the whole lot of you.” JB says with a wink.

 

“Don’t I know it.”

 

“Is Betty going to be ok?”

 

“Yes. I mean she should be. This disease is so screwed up, it’s hard to even explain what she is going through.”

 

“I get it. And since I am apparently in a sappy mood today, I should tell you how jealous I am of what you and Betty have.”

 

“Oh?” Jug has a smile on his face.

      

“I’ve never met a couple as crazy as in love as you.”

 

“That’s just because we are both crazy.” Jughead jokes.

 

“Crazypants.” Ava adds. JB can’t stop herself from laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go! I am so grateful to everyone who has read and commented so far! Right now I feel like the last chapter could go one of two directions, but I'm not sure which.


	11. After the Tenth

**January 12 th, 2031**

Jughead is so used to waking up to a happily screaming child or the blaring alarm on his cell phone, that he is shocked to wake up to the mid-day light streaming through the window of their hotel room.

 

He feels disoriented and groggy for a minute. They had arrived in Hawaii late last night, the flight far from pleasant, their seatmate a belligerent drunk. But now they were in a beautiful room overlooking a large pool, with the ocean visible in the background. He can even hear the lapping of waves if he tries.

 

Betty is in the shower. He gets up slowly and brews a pot of coffee. He is surprised how good it tastes when he takes a sip. He goes out onto the balcony to drink it, a book in his hand, though he doesn’t manage to read it. Instead he looks out at the view, enjoying the balmy heat until Betty comes out to join him. She pours herself a cup of coffee first then pulls the chair from across the deck so that she is sitting beside him. He put his hand around hers.

 

“I could get used to this.” She said a few minutes later, breaking the comfortable silence they were sharing this.

 

“I don’t know if I could. It’s so quiet, no one is screaming at me about her food being too hot.” That was Ava’s particular issue right now, her food was always too hot. Every time they made a meal for her now that involved cooking, they had to stick it in the freezer before serving it to her.

 

“You are already missing that?” Betty said, arching her eyebrow, knowing that Jughead is teasing her with that statement.

 

“No, but I am missing her.”

 

“Me too.” Though it had only been about twenty hours without her so far, it was not what they were used to. This is the first time they had spent more than a day without Ava since her birth. Since Jughead mainly wrote from home he was around her most of the time, whereas Betty who commuted to the city for her job, was not.

 

“I can’t believe it used to always be like this.”

 

“And by this you mean you and me alone in a fancy hotel room in Hawaii?” Betty raises her eyebrows in jest.

 

Jughead laughs and shakes his head “I mean that once upon a time, for a very long time, it was just the two of us, always. Now it is not just us and Ava. JB, Karen, Carol, and half a dozen other people, seem to be around every day.”

 

“They say it takes a village for a reason.”

 

“I didn’t think modern couples got a village. I’m pretty sure I read an article in The Atlantic about that.”

 

“I guess we are not a modern couple then.” Betty says kissing him. He puts his coffee mug down than takes hers from her, and places it next to his. He picks her up in his arms and carries her into the room as she laughs.

 

“Why are you laughing?” He asks, as he places Betty on the bed. She looks the same to him as the day they got married, although certainly that isn’t the case. It had been ten years and two lifetimes ago.

 

“Because you are so cliché.” she said as he pulls her shirt off.

 

He tried to put an expression on his face that conveyed that he was insulted, but it failed to stick, which just made her laugh more.

 

Two hours later they were slowly walking the beach and he thought that some cliché’s existed for a reason. Because you couldn’t beat this moment. Even though they were both dressed in clothes and not swimwear, Betty keeps tugging them towards the water every few minutes, just so they could cool off their feet.

 

He is trying to turn off his work mind and focus on this moment completely, but he felt like he couldn’t. Little bits of story and plot kept invading these moments of happiness. So he decided to let himself think about the new book, at least a little. His third one had just been published, fiction again, a mystery again, this time a lot more Californian in its sensibilities. It had hit the best seller list and had now stayed there near the top for five weeks. They had been able to upgrade their room in this hotel just based on how well it was selling. It was a little shocking, after years of Betty being the bill payer, things seemed to be equalizing at least a bit.

 

Already the publishers were pushing for a sequel and he felt the pressure of it building in him. He had never planned for one, and he hated when an author turned out a mediocre follow-up. He always swore he wouldn’t be that author. Now his publisher was begging him to be that author, at least that is how it felt.  

 

“What are you thinking about?” Betty asks.  

 

“Nothing.” Jughead says, not wanting to talk about work on their first full day of real vacation in years.

 

“That was not your I am thinking nothing face. That was clearly your full of writing thoughts face.”

 

Jughead laughs. He was caught. There was no way around that. “Yes. It was. Sorry. I am just thinking about writing.”

 

“I figured that out, what about writing were you thinking about?”

 

“Oh, just what to write next.”

 

“Well you know what they say – Write what you know.” Betty says, with a wink, knowing he hates that phrase.

 

Jughead looks away from the water at the families clustered on beach towels on the sand and underneath the palms. “So I should write a non-fiction book on how to marry your childhood sweetheart, is that what you are suggesting?”

 

“No, I was thinking more about a book on how to raise a daughter, while spending half your time typing in coffee houses.”

 

“What about a guide to procrastinating? I’m pretty sure I could throw something together.”

 

Betty laughs “What about a book devoted to the best diners in the bay area? Chronicle Books might be interested, so at least it would look pretty. ”

 

“Oh and you could edit it?” Jughead says with a smile.

 

“No, I’m finally senior enough to assign any book involving food I can’t eat to my underlings.”

 

“Understandably.” Jughead says, though he is a little surprised Betty hasn’t told him this before. But she generally avoids the topic of food now, the whole thing is a messy issue. She seems to exist mainly on homemade Pho and eggs. Which makes the whole vacation thing a little tricky. The buffet had made breakfast manageable, but dinner would be trickier. For obvious reasons Hawaiians did not seem to be big on soup.

 

“I was thinking of starting a series with a female detective, solving mysteries entangled with her family and love life.”

 

“Sounds very Veronica Mars.”

 

“This one isn’t in high school, or college.”

 

“So that makes all the difference?”

 

“She isn’t blond.” Jughead says and immediately realizes it isn’t true. The protagonist of the book he has started in his head looks exactly like Betty (plus a scar or two) so of course she is blond. “Or actually she is.”

 

“I know your type.” Betty says and he can’t help but kiss her right there on the beach, clichés be dammed.

 

They go swimming after that, in the ocean, then the pool, then the ocean again. He feels both exhausted and content by the time they drag themselves to dinner after a quick facetime with Alice and Ava (Alice reminding them to reapply their sunscreen, adding a comment about how Betty already looks a little burnt).

 

They find an Italian restaurant on the beach that agrees to simply prepare fish and vegetables, though what arrives at the table, looks like nothing Betty has eaten in years. Who knew vegetables could be reduced to potato’s, the fish inedible under a heavy cream sauce.

 

Jughead wants to fight the kitchen over this  meal, but Betty shakes her head and sips her Pelligrino as if it is a glass of wine and says “I refuse for my time to be destroyed. I will order room service when we get back.”

 

Jughead forces his anger down and nods. Betty has been well for a year now, only through being more strict than she has ever been. There is no such thing as a cheat day for her now.

 

“Can I ask you something?” Betty says.

 

“Of course.”

 

“Tell me one of your favorite days in the last ten years?”

 

“Just one?” She nods, so he continues “The day where we tried to visit all the independent bookstores in San Fransisco. We only made it to seven but they were all so great. And it was fun walking between them, and just being in the city. Then after that we went to that amazing soufflé place where the 80 year old lady cracked what must have been a hundred eggs in ten minutes.”

 

“The one with the quirky waiters?” Betty asks. Jughead nods and she supplies the name “Jacqueline's.” They hadn’t been there in years for obvious reasons.

 

“What is one of your favorites?”

 

“The day we took Ava to Pop’s for the first time, and showed her around town, though of course she is too young to remember that, it felt good to share part of our past with her.”

 

“That was a good day too.” Jughead says. He fishes a box out of his pocket and hands it to Betty.

 

“What is this?”

 

“Open it.” She does and reveals the rose gold ring with three perfect small (ethically mined) diamonds.

 

“Jug! We are already married!” Betty protests but there are tears in her eyes.

 

“Oh. I know this is all backwards. But I never got you an engagement ring. Your mom never stopped reminding me.”

 

“I didn’t care.” Betty says but Jughead can tell that even if she didn’t care, just by the way she is holding this ring up to the light, that she likes this ring.

 

“I can still return it.” Jughead says teasingly.

 

“Don’t you dare.” She says, leaning in and giving him a kiss. “Thank you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone’s wonderful feedback! 
> 
>  
> 
> I am on [Tumblr](https://darknessaroundus.tumblr.com/).


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